On August 14, 1953, the Wiffle ball was patented. Invented by David N. Mullany, the Wiffle ball is a thin, hollow ball made of plastic and perforated with eight oblong holes on one hemisphere. Mullany designed the ball for his 12-year-old son and his friends after watching them struggle to give their ball a little curve while playing a game of baseball in the backyard. Little did Mullany know that the Wiffle ball itself would be so popular but that it would lead to an indoor or outdoor variation of baseball, also called Wiffle ball.